Rocket's Advocate
by totallygone
Summary: Cordano in The Advocate


Title: Rocket's Advocate. Author: Katemond. Rating: PG-13 for language. Summary: Cordano in The Advocate. Disclaimer: The usual: me no own, me disgruntled. Notes: Most thankage to the immense Cordano LoveLounge where I nabbed scene summaries cos my memory of the episode is sadly poor. Also, this was something I wanted to see if I could write. And, now it's written, I wanted to see if I could post. And, I have.  
Lizzie walked into the lounge exhausted. She hated days like these, and they never seemed to end. she sank gratefully into the armchair behind her cradling a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. At last, she could relax and take the weight off her feet.  
  
Suddenly the door slammed open and she jumped nearly spilling her drink. Turning around, she saw Robert stalk into the room.  
  
"You look like your day was about as calm as mine" she said smiling.  
  
Robert just grunted something incoherent at her and sat himself down opposite. She noticed him wincing as he moved his injured arm out of the way of the chair-arm.  
  
"Robert!" Lizzie exclaimed as she noticed the wound on his wrist. "What happened to your arm?"  
  
"It's nothing"  
  
Lizzie gave him a deservedly disbelieving look.  
  
"Really, it's just a small cut, I'll live"  
  
"Let me look at that" she demanded as she knelt down in front of him.  
  
What am I doing? Did I have to get this close to him? I can smell him. I swear I can feel the heat coming off him. This just like last time. God I hope I don't make a fool of myself again.  
  
Despite Robert's protests that his arm was fine, it was obvious it had been painfully battered.  
  
"How did you do that? That's not nothing"  
  
"I.had an encounter with a bed. Didn't even realise it was caught. My own fault really" he muttered.  
  
Dammit, he always gave into her. It was like he had no willpower where she was concerned. If she wanted it, she got it.  
  
If she wanted me.  
  
No. Don't even think of going there  
  
"Well it needs to get cleaned up, come on"  
  
And with that, she helped him to his feet and took him down to the ER. He really had no choice in the matter. Although, despite his protests he didn't really mind.  
  
Walking through the hectic corridors of the ER, Lizzie found an empty room and ushered him in.  
  
"Make yourself comfortable, I'll be back in a second"  
  
Robert sat down by the suture table and rested his arms on it, absently tapping the fingers of his good hand on the surface. How could he have been so stupid? He berated himself. Now, because of it, Lizzie thought he was losing the fight, definitely not recovering as planned. He was Robert Romano, goddam chief of staff, now even he was beginning to doubt the prudence of him carrying on.  
  
"Ok, I'm back"  
  
"Really? My my Lizzie, you do have a penchant for stating the obvious don't you"  
  
At this, she faltered, hurt. He could have kicked himself. Why did he always do this? She was looking after him. A rare chance to be alone with her and he was ruining it.  
  
"Sorry, that was uncalled for. You didn't deserve that."  
  
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand as she sat down and took his injured hand, inspecting it.  
  
As she worked, he took the chance to watch her. Her hands soft on his numb skin. She was so close. If he dared, he could just reach out and touch her cheek. But he wouldn't. He would take what she gave and be happy with it.  
  
He could do that.  
  
Oh, but she was so close. Their knees were almost touching. All he had to do was lean his leg slightly to the right. I can't believe it! She didn't move! I'm actually sitting inches from Elizabeth Corday, our knees are touching, and she's not moved! She's still sitting there, touching each of my fingers in turn. So gentle. So close. And she's not moved!  
  
Wait, he had to control himself - getting so excited over his knee touching hers is slightly extreme. Cover it up, quick.  
  
"Let's see, what's next? I could cut it while slicing a bagel and not realize it until I pass out from the blood loss..."  
  
"Robert" she interrupted.  
  
"Or maybe I could set the darn thing on fire"  
  
"You need to be patient."  
  
Pot, meet kettle, you're black. He needs to be patient? Tell that to yourself woman. You're an adult, it's not like you've never been this close to a man before. It's not even like you've never been this close to Robert before. It's just your knee, I'm sure he's not even aware he's doing it it's so insignificant. Concentrate on treating him. Although, truth be said, he was slightly impatient!  
  
"Yes. So everyone keeps telling me. Although none of us actually believe I'm even going to partially recover, do we?"  
  
Ah. Now, how do I respond to that? It's not that I don't think he'll recover. He's got the willpower, it's whether or not he'll go stir crazy from not doing anything, and end up ruining all that hard work. Damn him, it's so hard to concentrate when he's sitting so close.  
  
She looked up. Straight into the eyes of Robert Romano. There it was, the sorrow and regret plain for her to see. And she couldn't answer him. What could she say to that? She couldn't very well lie, but at the same time, the truth was just too hard right now. He looked back at her, quirking his head in a silent question. In reply she smiled vaguely sympathetically, trying not to blush as she focused on his leg next to hers.  
  
She doesn't think I will recover. She feels sorry for me.  
  
There was compassion in the smile though; a sense of caring that took all the rough edges off his harsh realisation.  
  
She doesn't feel sorry for me; she doesn't pity me. She just cares.well. This is better than I was expecting. She wants to understand how I feel.  
  
He shifted again, suddenly aware that his knee was still touching her. Concentrate.  
  
"Do you believe in the laws of karma, Elizabeth?"  
  
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at him before remembering (and I run the risk of being tasteless (chop chop)) the task at hand. Looking down again she blushed, had he noticed she'd been in her own little world of Robert?  
  
Taking her silence for a request for elaboration he continued:  
  
"The Eastern philosophy -- the influence of past actions on your future life?"  
  
"I know what it is."  
  
"So I can be a jerk. So what? I've always been honest. Brutally honest. Bruised some egos, hurt some feelings, maybe, provoked a few tears, but, honesty's a heck of a lot more than most people can claim."  
  
Doesn't honesty get rewarded? Why did I get all the bad luck? It doesn't seem fair that one of the so-called virtues of character should be so harshly punished.  
  
"I don't deserve this"  
  
That simple statement hung in the air. It refused to go. He was right she realised. He didn't deserve it. He was a good man, he was fair and he always did what he believed was right. Yet so many people were blind to this. Granted, his honesty was sometimes harsh, but he didn't lie; he said what he thought despite what people might think of him.  
  
At this moment it hit her. As she looked into his eyes she realised that honesty didn't need to be spoken. She realised at that moment that he didn't deserve her denial; he deserved the truth. That was a shock.  
  
She glanced down at the table at their still touching hands. When she looked back up, his face was much closer, his eyes still focused on hers. And she shut them, and lent forwards to meet him, and kissed him. Just a fleeting touch, but that short brush of their lips was ten times stronger than the whole time their knees had been touching. Neither of them had expected it to be quite so dizzying.  
  
After a while, Robert gathered his thoughts, smiled, and looked at her again.  
  
"What did I do to deserve that?"  
endage. 


End file.
